The goal of this project was to synthesize a 2,5-silole monomer, that could be used to synthesize a polysilole polymer brush .  Polysiloles are very good conducting polymers and are excellent compounds that could be used in various different applications of polymer science. Due to the superb electron transfer ability of siloles, they are excellent candidates for electron transporting material such as, light emitting diodes (LED), field effect transistors (FET) and chemical sensors. However, they are very difficult to synthesize and are not very soluble in organic solvents. To circumvent these problems, we proposed to synthesize polymer brushesfrom 2,5-silole monomer, on a quartz substrate using a surface initiated polymerization method called reversible-atom fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT). The polymer brushes are expected to be much more robust, and since the polymer is already on a surface, high molecular weight thin films can be produced without the concern of solubility.  Also, the photophysical and electrical properties of the siloles are expected to be maintained or even enhanced. Our synthetic route towards the monomer follows various procedures from the literature, and we have been successful in making the monomer precursor.

Synthesis of a 2,5-silole monomer for the polymerization of silole polymer brushes

245th National Meeting (2013)

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